The Interior Department has formalized three broad partnership agreements with Alaska Native tribes, including an initiative designed to save the Pacific salmon that indigenous people have relied upon for thousands of years.
The partnerships announced during a signing ceremony Wednesday in Anchorage, Alaska, advances Biden administration efforts to improve federal relations with Native American and Alaska Native governments, and to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into managing the nation’s public lands.
The centerpiece of the deals is the Gravel to Gravel Keystone Initiative, a co-stewardship partnership between Interior agencies and eight Alaska Native tribal coalitions that have lived in the Alaskan interior for centuries.
The target of the Gravel to Gravel partnership is the restoration and protection of Pacific salmon in the Yukon, Kuskokwim, and Norton Sound region. Covering nearly 420,000 square miles, the region includes the 1,980-mile Yukon River and the 702-mile Kuskokwim River, which flow into the Bering Sea.